Improved steering apparatus



` Nrrnn Smarts Partnr @trice STUART GWYNN, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVE!) STEERING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 3,53, dated January 27, 1863.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STUART GwYNN, of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Steering Ships; and I hereby declare that the followingdescription, taken in connection with vthe accompanying drawings, is a clear, true, and exact specification of the same.

rIhe object of my improvements in steering apparatus is the retention of the elasticity of the physical force in order to prevent the effects of torsion produced by a cross sea operating against the blade or back of the rudder, which tends to part asunder the stock and blade at the region of the scarf, 'also to transmit the physical power of the helmsman in graduated quantity, as the increased resistance when the helm is hard up 7 requires it.

It is well known that when the rudder forms the greatest angle with the keel its bearing is hard against the stern-post, and when in this position it is in most danger of being ruptured in the scarf of the block by the force of a sea passing at right angles with the blade of the rudder, the edge of the stern-post forming a fulcrum between the pintles and edge of the rudder.

All mechanical appliances have aimed to economize labor, and some of them (as the screw apparatus) to secure safety to the man at the wheel 3 but signal failure has attended .the efforts made to relieve the rudder itself from the arbitrary angle of the helm with wheel, Src., or the diminished leverage and rigidity demanded by the screw. Indeed, it has been impossible that it should have been otherwise while no compensating power and no elastic arrangements are furnished in combination in the old apparatus.

In my improved compensating steering apparatus I have sought to obviate these and other defects and to attain the objects hereinbefore stated, and my invention consists, rst, In the mechanism herein described for imparting to the rudder-head the requisite motion according to the resistance to be overcome, so that while the action on the prime mover is uniform the rudder-head will rotate with more or less speed as the resistance increases or decreases, substantially as hereinafter set forth, second, in the combination,

with the rudder-head of a pintle extending upward in line with the axis of the rudderhead and supporting the said pintle by a suitable overhead frame, substantially as hereinafter shown and described; third, in the arrangement of the tiller between two points of supports of the rudder-head, substantially as hereinafter shown; fourth, in the arrangement of annular rubber springs on the screwshaft, substantially as hereinafter shown and for the purposes set forth.

To enable others skilled-in the art to make and use my improved steering apparatus, I shall now proceed to describe its construction, arrangement and operation by referring to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of my apparatus; Fig. 2, an end view thereof; Fig. 3, a transverse section by a plane passing through the rudder-head according to the line A B in Fig. 1. Fig. a is a plan view, partly in section, according' to line C D 5 Figs. 5 and 6, details of tiller and spring-plate, respectively.

In the said drawings the rudder-head A is shown surmounted by a cap, A, whose interior studs, a, enter corresponding notches in the head, whereby it is prevented to slide or rotate on the rudder-head as its pivot. The rudder is irmly held in position by having, in addition to the usual rudder-support hole, a headsupport, the rudder-head being provided with a pintle or journal, J, which, springing from the center of the cap, enters a socket, east or otherwise, secured to the standard or frame of the apparatus. The socket or bearing of the said pintle I prefer to make sufficiently' deep or open at both ends, so as to allow for up and down motion of the rudder-head in yielding to upward thrusts, to which the rudder in stormy weather is exposed.

The frame of the apparatus consists of two standard brackets, B, firmlybolted to the deck, and united laterally by four guide rails or ways, within which is conned a traveling nut, E, mounted on an endless screw, D, whose journals are supported in the bearings of the brackets. A hand-wheel, H, is keyed to one end of the screw-shaft, whereby the operator may impart to the screw a rotary motion in either direction, thus propelling the nut back and forth at will. The screwshaft, while it will be seen, is capable of some motion in its bearings in the direction of its axis, is furnished with elastic cushions or buffers C, consisting of a series of annular rubber springs having metal plates interposed. The screwshaft may have one or more buffers at one of its end, arranged either on the inside or on the outside of the standard-brackets, or it may be furnished with buffers on both ends, which may be arranged either on the inside or the outside of the brackets, or again both on the inside and the outside.

The motions given the nut are transmitted to the tiller in the manner and by the means as follows: In the nut, and on the under side thereof, there are two friction-rollers, F, mounted on and held in suspension by spindles or bolts screwed into the nut, located at or near its extremities and between the two under guide bars or rails. These rollers are tted in slots of the tiller G, which I denominate the geometric tiller77 on account of the curve of the slots being of such conguration as that when a uniform reciprocating motion is imparted to the nut and friction-rollers the rudder is thereby rotated on its axis fast when amidships and slow when to starboard or port.

Ihe tiller is shown constructed with two slots, one for each roller, the said slots being arranged symmetrically, so that the two rollers shall act on the tiller simultaneously with compensating` speed and remain in their respective slots at equal distances from each other, whatever their position may be in relation to the rudder-head. s

Having thus fully described my invention and the manner in which the same is or may be carried into effect, I shall state my claims as follows:

l. The mechanism herein described for iinparting to the rudder-head the requisite motion according to the resistance to be overcome, so that while the action of the prime mover is uniform the rudder-head will rotate with more or less speed as the resistance increases or decreases, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the rudder-head, of a pintle extending upward in line with the axis of the rudder-head, and supporting said pintle by a suitable overhead frame, substantially as herein shown and described.

3. Applying the tiller to the rudder-head between two points of support thereof, said tiller being operated from a screw-shaft hav. ing annular rubber springs arranged upon it, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specilication before two subscribing witnesses.

STUART GW YNN.

Witnesses z A. PoLLoK, WM. H. HARRISON. 

